Mullin
Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 20062
Location: Ivybridge
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:32 am Post subject: The Sex Pistols |
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The Sex Pistols got together in the summer of 1975 they were originally known as the Swankers, with lead vocalist Wally Nightingale; they soon became into the Sex Pistols. With a line-up of Steve Jones (guitar), Paul Cook (drums), Glen Matlock (bass) and Johnny Rotten (vocals).
Their small time manager Malcolm McClaren was no fool he organized gigs in clubs and venues where there was guaranteed to get a reaction and free publicity with the result that momentum built up quickly behind them resulting in them signing for EMI without having to slog for years on the gig circuit.
The infamous Bill Grundy incident with them swearing live on TV took them and punk rock into the media glare making them household names. But the publicity was a double edged sword
The group signed to EMI Records which released their first single, Anarchy In The UK. From Rotten's sneering laugh at the opening of the song to the final seconds of feedback, it was a riveting debut. Soon afterwards, the group was dropped from EMI in a blaze of publicity. By February 1977, Matlock was replaced by punk caricature Sid Vicious.
The following month, the group was signed to A&M Records outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. One week later, A&M cancelled the contract. After reluctantly signing to Virgin Records, the group issued God Save The Queen. The single coincided with the Queen's Jubilee. It rose to number 1 in the NME chart. A third single, the melodic Pretty Vacant proved their most accessible to date. They hit again with Holidays In The Sun and the UK chart-topping Never Mind The Bollocks - Here's The Sex Pistols.
A troubled tour of America fractured the Pistols already strained relationship. In early 1978, Rotten announced that he was leaving after a gig in San Francisco. The group then went to Rio to be filmed playing alongside train robber Ronnie Biggs. Vicious, incapacitated by heroin addiction, could not make the trip, but Jones and Cook were happy to indulge in the publicity stunt.
Another controversial single Cosh The Driver was backed with Vicious's rendition of My Way. Vicious recorded a lame version Of Eddie Cochran's C'mon Everybody before returning to New York.
On 12 October 1978, Sid's girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed in his hotel room and Vicious was charged with murder. While released on bail, he suffered an overdose of heroin and died in his sleep on the morning of 2 February 1979.Virgin Records continued to issue the desultory fragments of Pistols work that they had on catalogue.
The unholy saga ended in the High Court a decade later in 1986 when Rotten and his fellow ex-Pistols won substantial damages against their former manager. In 1996, the original line-up reformed and toured.
The Pistols were awesome. From their look to their lyrics to their music they were fresh, original and exciting and young and they didn't give a f*** which made them dangerous. They spawned a whole culture on their own from the Clash to Siouxsie and the Banshees and the fans to the present day in terms of image style and attitude.
By Amy Mullin - 08/09/04 |
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